[trivia] Stations having a better service during engineering works than noramlly

[infobleep]

Due to engineering works, from 9am heading south and 10am heading north, Guildford has 5 trains an hour between Guildford and Woking today, where as usually its just 4. In the North direction they are also more evenly spread out. In addition to that, on the Friday and Saturday just gone, as well as tomorrow, the number of trains an hour was and will be just 2 and they are T x40 and x47. Again this is due to engineering works. There are no supplimentry buses running on any of the days.

Dueung other engineering works Shalford has had a doubling of services to either Gatwick or Reading. It does mean that in the opposite direction it is a bus but that is still double the provision.

Godalming and Farncombe has had double the frequency of services on Sundays during engineering works, when it was served by buses instead of trains. This being 2 buses vers 1 train. Godalming now gets 2 trains an hour on Sundays but Farncombe is still only 1, so still has that doubling of frequency.

When trains to Alton from Waterloo have been diverted to run via Guildford, I seem to think it's lead to a doubling of service to Aldershot on a Sunday.

 

[sd0733]

A few weeks ago all Chester Merseyrail services were diverted to Ellesmere Port so that line got a 15 minute all day 6 car service, quadruple the capacity it normally gets off peak.

Also Harrow and Wealdstone is getting a rather better service while Euston is shut on the days Virgin are terminating there.

 

[Ianno87]

Coventry had a fantastic weekend Pendolino service during the Trent Valley 4 tracking works.

 

[PHILIPE]

Didn't Ormskirk to Preston have a Sunday service a few months ago to allow passengers to interchange between Mersey Lines and the Preston route due to Engineering Blockade

 

[Mag_seven]

When the Berks and Hants line is shut, Pewsey is served by a RRB from Swindon which provides a much faster journey time from Swindon to Pewsey than the normal rail journey via Reading.

 

[QuestRail]

During electrification work on the line between Swindon and Bristol Parkway, all Wales services were diverted via Bristol Temple Meads and up to Patchway. It was great being able to get mainline trains and not just the usual local stoppers.

 

[tommy2215]

During the first stage of the resignalling works at Derby, Burton-on-Trent had 4 tph rather than its usual 2.5 tph

 

[David57]

I travelled from Northampton to Liverpool (and return) yesterday, WMT shuttle from Bletchley to Rugby, Virgin to and from Rugby to Liverpool, think this was due to the WCML engineering works, very efficient....

 

[Mitchell Hurd]

When there was engineering works between Didcot and Oxford in both directions in 2016, it meant an increase in capacity to and from Didcot and Reading + increased frequencies between the 2 stations. CrossCountry services to and from Didcot and Bournemouth were handy - didn't go to Bournemouth though. I've been in Summer 2001 by train and in Summer 2012 by coach with Abingdon College, each trips for a day.

In August also in 2016, I was only going to Reading. There was a 12:10 to Reading (normally the 12:01 from Oxford - Reading, Slough and London Paddington). Class 180 it was. The 12:03 HST pulled up on platform 2 at Didcot (the 180 was on platform 3) but I stayed on the 180 . Working air-conditioning this had!

The engineering works also meant you could get to Slough from Didcot in around 30 minutes on a faster service compared to the then slower Class 16x services.

 

[david737]

When Charing Cross to Ramsgate/Dover via Tonbridge services are diverted (like today) via Maidstone East this doubles their normal hourly Sunday service, they call at Otford as well.

 

[nw1]

I remember St Denys used to have a more evenly spread service on days when the line from Southampton Central to Romsey was shut on a Saturday and direct Salisbury services were diverted via Chandlers Ford. Rather than the normal xx35 and xx44 out of SOU, you had the Salisbury go at xx18 giving a close-to-even interval xx18/xx44 service. The xx18 also had better connections at Parkway (i.e more or less straight into the following Waterloo); one big issue with the Mon-Sat off-peak St Denys service when it was my local station were the poor connections to points north or east, both at SOU and at Parkway - so much so that it was often quicker to walk the 35 mins to Parkway rather than the 10 to St Denys plus the 20 minute connection at Parkway.

The fastest way from Gatwick to SOU today was to change at Guildford, which allows an interesting alternative route via the North Downs. Unfortunately it's not a permitted route so you end up having to buy two tickets!

 

[RailWonderer]

On the GEML, Ingatestone. At one point, 44/52 weekends had no service besides rail replacement and Ingatestone has a large car park (only a village) so coaches and trains start/terminate from there mostly. That normally involves 3tph+ and the normal service there is only 2tph and 1 on a Sunday.

 

[cuccir]

A well-known one: when the ECML is shut between Newcastle and Edinburgh, which is usually 3-4 weekends a year, LNER services from Kings Cross to Edinburgh divert via the Tyne Valley and call at Carlisle, giving Carlisle dozens of extra services a day.

 

[The Prisoner]

Penrith and Oxenholme this afternoon. All London (Harrow and Wealdstone) direct services stop after 1pm - normally they are skip stops. Not sure that makes up for lack of direct services and/or no West Midlands services, but it is better in terms of numbers calling on that route

 

[ValleyLines142]

Ninian Park in Cardiff does well sometimes when Barry Island services terminate there instead of at Central, or if they divert via the City Line to Radyr. Usually it's a half hourly service in the day, and no service on Sunday, but when there are engineering works there are these services plus extra VAR workings in addition.

 

[SteelWeelApeal]

I've been thinking of making a thread just like this one for a while. Some examples I can think of:

• Staines: fast services to Clapham Junction and Waterloo when route via Surbiton has been closed
• Guildford and Havant: direct services to Southampton and beyond when route via Winchester has been closed, and more services ot London
• Littlehampton and Horsham: faster and more frequent services to London when Brighton Line closed
• Lewes: more frequent services to London when route via Hassocks closed
• Salisbury, Andover, Basingstoke: direct/more frequent services to Reading when route to Waterloo closed (soon to introduced normally on Sundays)
• Direct services between Birmingham - Southampton/Guildford and Edinburgh - Glasgow/Aberdeen when route via Derby closed (although extended journey time, so arguably not a better service)
• Swindon: more frequent direct services to Westbury - Penzance when route via Newbury closed
• Patchway: direct services to London when route via Bristol Parkway closed
• Newport: direct services to Chesterfield - Glasgow, Aberdeen, and more frequent to Bristol - Penzance when route via Yate closed

There have been too many to mention due to Great Western engineering works and the strange services this has produced, such as Hereford - Worcester - Oxford - Swindon - Gloucester - Newport - Cardiff - Swansea, adn non stop services from Bristol to Exeter or Reading to Bristol

 

[yorksrob]

Otford and Chiselhurst get express trains to London and the coast when services are diverted via Maidstone East.

 

[ForTheLoveOf]

Harrow & Wealdstone is probably seeing the best service in its lifetime, what with direct express services to Preston, Manchester, Liverpool and so on!

 

[cuccir]

Another which comes to mind, although it's not really a station: when the Settle-Carlisle line is shut, rail replacment buses call at Hawes, which is on the route used between Ribblehead and Garsdale. The only time that Hawes gets a 'rail' service!

 

[Kite159]

Under SWT when the line from Basingstoke to Woking was closed for engineering works the hourly service from Salisbury (& beyond) called at all the stations rather than skip-stopping.

 

[infobleep]

I've been thinking of making a thread just like this one for a while. Some examples I can think of:

• Staines: fast services to Clapham Junction and Waterloo when route via Surbiton has been closed
• Guildford and Havant: direct services to Southampton and beyond when route via Winchester has been closed, and more services ot London
• Direct services between Birmingham - Southampton/Guildford and Edinburgh - Glasgow/Aberdeen when route via Derby closed (although extended journey time, so arguably not a better service)

Guildford gets later services from London when Weymouth trains diverted.

As for Cross Country, when they are diverted Guildford gets far more direct services to various places and you can get more advanced purchased tickets. For example Guildford to Oxford has more advanced purchase tickets during engineering works. They don't mind advanced purchase tickets when the journey is solely on Cross Country but don't seem to sell them when you need to use a combination of Great Western Railway and Cross Country. No Cross Country and connections or Great Western Railway and connections tickets are avilable for Guildford to Oxford.

One might say well they are closeish but that also applies when Cross Country are diverted and you only use their trains.

 

[Matt_pool]

Not sure if this counts but when Liverpool Lime Street was closed for 8 weeks last Summer the rail replacement buses were more reliable than the normal service operated by Northern!

Yes, journey time was longer, but the buses turned up on time, you could get a seat, and there were no cancellations!

 

[infobleep]

Not sure if this counts but when Liverpool Lime Street was closed for 8 weeks last Summer the rail replacement buses were more reliable than the normal service operated by Northern!

Yes, journey time was longer, but the buses turned up on time, you could get a seat, and there were no cancellations!

If more buses ran on average, during that timetable period than trains then it counts in my book.

 

[Iskra]

Oban gains sleeper services during engineering works on the Fort William Line

 

[pdeaves]

Two people have already mentioned Patchway as the stop in lieu of Bristol Parkway. I am sure there must be other 'minor' stations that can and do step up to be 'major' ones when required.

 

[Parallel]

Melksham does quite well when the line between Trowbridge and Bath/Bristol is closed and Portsmouth trains are diverted to Swindon. It gets a clockface two-hourly service with direct journeys to Warminster, Salisbury, Southampton and Portsmouth.

 

[Tim456]

Westbury gains an hourly/2 hourly service to/from Waterloo when the line between Salisbury and Yeovil is closed in addition to the usual SWR services that run to/from Bristol.

 

[Tim456]

When the line between Bristol and Gloucester is closed, XC services are diverted via Swindon also calling at Bath Spa so both stations gain an hourly XC service.

 

[Ianno87]

Two people have already mentioned Patchway as the stop in lieu of Bristol Parkway. I am sure there must be other 'minor' stations that can and do step up to be 'major' ones when required.

I recall Virgin CrossCountry services calling at Longbridge during the Proof House Jn blockade in 1999/2000.

 

[Parallel]

When the line between Bristol and Gloucester is closed, XC services are diverted via Swindon also calling at Bath Spa so both stations gain an hourly XC service.

Also Newport and Gloucester have had diverted XC services there before too.

I recall Virgin CrossCountry services calling at Longbridge during the Proof House Jn blockade in 1999/2000.

I think I read that Kings Norton was a stop before too when there were engineering works in Birmingham.